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Articles by Dan Pens

Prison Madness, by Terry Kupers, MD (Book Review)

Jossey-Bass, 1999

Reviewed by Dan Pens

Ted Kaczynski is clearly mentally ill. So said six psychiatrists who told the court that the infamous Unabomber is an acutely psychotic paranoid schizophrenic.

In addition to being quite mad, Kaczynski possesses a brilliant intellect; he was a professor of mathematics at UCal Berkeley ...

From the Editor

Welcome to the ninth anniversary issue of PLN . Many people, supporters and detractors alike, are amazed by PLN 's longevity. We're not amazed. We're proud, not to mention weary. It takes an incredible amount of commitment and hard work to keep PLN going.

A lot of the commitment comes ...

From the Editor

Yesterday evening I was walking down the breezeway. A fellow prisoner waved and said, "Hi Dan, how'ya doing?"

Without pause I answered, "Well, I'm still standing. Still takin' punches. I guess that's something."

That's what being a prisoner involved in The Struggle feels like these days. Like Rocky Balboa in ...

From the Editor

Greetings and welcome to a new year of PLN . Our longevity is a proud accomplishment and one that would not be possible without the continuing support of you our readers. I thank each of you who responded to PLN 's recent fundraiser mailing.

If you have yet to mail ...

Prisoners' Legal Services of NY Victim of Budget Ax

September 13, 1971 Bloody Monday. New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller unleashes a firestorm of bullets and shotgun blasts into Attica's D-Yard. Eight minutes and 3,000 rounds of ammo later, 29 prisoners and 10 hostages lay fatally gunshot in spreading pools of blood. Another 89 are wounded.

May 18, 1998 Bloody ...

Virginia Prisons 'Wide Open to Business'

Slave Labor Meets Hollywood

In a warehouse near the Baltimore airport in 1997, California businessman Trek Kelly observed a supplier peeling tags off crates of merchandise. Later he found a tag that had been overlooked. A tag with the words "Virginia State Prisons" printed on it.

At the time, Kelly, ...

Restorative Justice Booklet Available

Review by Dan Pens

Long time readers of PLN know that I have an interest in Restorative Justice. I have reviewed and recommended several publications on the topic. I bring your attention now to a very well-produced and affordable booklet that offers an introduction to the subject.

The Campaign for ...

Arizona DOC Paralegal Fraud: Law Libraries Closed, Replaced by Scam Artists

One year ago this month, PLN reported that 34 Arizona prison law libraries were permanently closed and replaced with visiting paralegals under contract with the state. [See: "Experiment in Access: Law Libraries Eliminated in Arizona Prisons" PLN , Vol. 8 No. 10]. The "experiment in access'' recently exploded in the ...

From the Editor

Not too long ago I viewed two one-hour Nightline prime-time specials back-to-back. The first hour featured non-stop spin control about the day's Tomahawk cruise missile attacks on "terrorist camps" in Afghanistan and (most mind-boggling of all!) a pharmaceutical factory in Sudan.

Just weeks before, the television had beamed stark images ...

Struggling Against the Death Machine

Imagine your entire life concentrated within one tiny cage. Twenty-four hours, by seven days, times three-hundred sixty-five. The state of Pennsylvania owns the cage. Everything you own, everything you do, is squeezed into that suffocating space. There is nothing else.

The State has vowed to kill you.

Hope enters the ...